The second part to a popular blockbuster needs to come out early because the delay it faces will reduce the chances it has to get a positive nod from audiences. One can be very much in love with the first one but the time delay will affect the connectivity factor and the recent film might require a double edition kind of treatment. Also, it does look old and aged. Does Kamal’s Vishwaroopam-2 face such issues?
Plot : Wisam Ahmed Kashmiri (Kamal Haasan) and his team are back to subvert the terrorist plots of Omar (Rahul Bose), who has a personal score to settle with Wisam. Even Wisam is also slowly giving more importance to the personal connection than being an Army person all the time. This change in his nature is also triggered by the time he spent with Omar and Family. So will he choose to stay happy with his wife, Nirupama (Pooja Kumar) or will he choose to be a soldier? What are the secrets he is holding back? And can he save the day, again? Watch the movie for answers…
Performances : Should we judge Kamal Haasan? Can we? Even in his sleep, he is better than 90% of the actors in India. So, we just admire his performance again and wish, he had given himself some more challenging stuff like in the first one than just being an action hero.
Pooja Kumar is good and looked young. But her character suffers from less development as the story writer wants to reach to the climax even faster and make it commercially viable. Andrea Jeremiah is efficient and her character needed some more good sequences than what she got. Waheeda Rehman is a delight and others are good.
Technicalities : Sanu Verghese – Shamdat Shainudeen’s visuals are an asset of this film. We are never left wondering why a scene is unfolding in such a manner, because they give more importance to visual meaning and beauty, at the same time.
Mahesh Narayanan – Vijay Shankar’s editing could have been even sharp and the pacing should have been looked at. While few scenes look too dragged on, few seem underserved. A problem they should have identified and discussed with the filmmaker.
Ghibran shows what he can do in Background score with this movie. In a movie, where the space for a normal pulsating score that satisfies worshippers of a huge star, he shines brighter than many.
Kamal Haasan when comes to writing tries to imbibe huge ideas and even bigger issues into a simple screenplay as one on one combats. He wants you to catch the issues he is throwing at you at the same standards he is at and at the same pace. If you say, I’m slow, please slow down, he gets frustrated and makes fun of you. While it is understandable it is also frustrating at the same time.
Even as a director, his shot division, and his visuals are storytellers and he invests his runtime more in them than trying to explain you what you saw and what he meant. He is like that lecturer who is frustrated at his students for not catching up. Yet, he longs for appreciation and reflection on what he discussed from the same. A trait that is good him but too arrogant for others. Once again, he falls prey for his own lavish thoughts that refuse to simplify to the level of average movie-goers who are more connected to his warehouse fight than his real story, struggle between two Muslim soldiers on two sides of the coin.
Analysis : Any film that involves Spies and Terrorists is expected to have long action sequences with thrilling consequences. But few try to tell the story of a human behind that spy. How interesting it will depend on the makers. Spy movies that have soul-searching theme can end up as The Bourne series, where action and a man on the run with cat and mouse chase are given more importance. And some others try to mix up even more drama in them.
Kamal tries to go the second route and explore the human story of a RAW agent who is a Muslim and his sincerity towards Nation is still doubted while someone else who is a Hindu, gets a free pass, even though he is inefficient and happens to be a double agent. He touches many undertones in society with one driven Muslim going against another but fails to add sufficient masala for an average person.
Rating : 2/5
